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Olathe City Manager Michael Wilkes will retire at the end of January, despite a last-minute vote by city council last week to keep him in his role. Wilkes shared the news over the weekend in an email to city officials obtained by the Post, saying he will retire on schedule because the city council was divided over whether to extend his contract. The reversal comes just days after a contentious closed-door special meeting on Friday, during which the Olathe City Council voted 4-3 to delay his retirement and halt the nearly complete search for his replacement. Wilkes announced his retirement in [...]

Marysville USD 364 started an exciting initiative this year with a new ‘Farm to Plate Program.’ This Program brings the school and community together to provide fresh, local food to students. Darren Schroeder, USD 364 Superintendent, said that with community-based learning being a big focus in the schools, they took the steps to get started, and it has grown faster than they would have imagined. He said the biggest hurdles are making sure the Program follows state guidelines. In the first few months, the school has already brought in six hogs and three beef, along with fresh fruits and vegetables, all [...]

Last week, Deep Fission broke ground on a pilot program to bury small modular reactors underground in Parsons, Kansas. This project is the first of its kind in the United States, and comes as part of the Trump Administration’s effort to advance the nation’s nuclear power. Read more: Up To Date

Do you have an effort that could advance conservation or sustainability in Wichita? If so, the Wichita Sustainability Integration Board is offering 10 approximately $1,000 micro-grants to help get your project built. Applications for micro-grants officially open Jan. 1, 2026, and close on Feb. 12, 2026. The chairman of the board, Ibrahim Abdallah, proposed the micro-grants to help people fund “shovel ready projects” that could be started quickly. Ethan Kershaw, who serves as the Sustainability Coordinator, said that the opportunity is similar to arts and culture city grants, in that any nonprofit community organization and individual person can apply. Read more: [...]

A Kansas town has installed a new tornado siren that will warn residents not only by tones, but by talking. Garden City said Monday that it is testing the siren, which includes “voice-activated prompts” south of the Charles O. Stones Intermediate Center. The city said the new system will allow for clearer instructions during severe weather events and other emergencies. The voice prompts will only be used during real emergencies to provide guidance and help residents respond quickly and appropriately, the city said. Read more: KSN-TV

The fate of Wichita’s 1% sales tax will soon be in voters’ hands, after the city council unanimously voted Tuesday to put it on the ballot. Wichita Forward, the organization that originally brought the sales tax proposal to the council, celebrated the decision. “[Citizens] have an opportunity to support investments in our homelessness challenges, to invest in our first responders, to lower property taxes,” Matt Burchett, a Wichita Forward board member, said after the vote. “With this opportunity city council provided, the citizens get to choose those opportunities for the city.” Read more: KSN-TV

Three of Seward County's five commissioners announced their resignations Monday night. Seward County Chair and District 3 Commissioner Scott Carr, District 4 Commissioner Tammy Sutherland-Abbott, and District 2 Commissioner Presephoni D. Fuller made the announcement during the comments portion of the meeting. “I never dreamed that this community would have acted like it did just because they didn’t agree with the three of us votes. We had been ridiculed, mocked. Cartoons drawn about us. It’s pretty pathetic when the three of us in that aspect were givers to this community … This was my second recall in the last few weeks,” [...]

As expected, the county commissioners approved a proposed moratorium on nuclear development in the county, citing the need to complete the new comprehensive plan before making any decisions about whether to allow it in or not. This expands the existing moratorium passed last week that includes not only solar and wind development, but also data mining facilities. Read more: - Morning Sun

A changing of the guard has happened in Kansas City, Kansas. And with that, Mayor Christal Watson said she’s ready to get to work. “It will take all of us to do this work,” Watson told residents who filled Memorial Hall on Monday. “It is going to take more than just one day. We won’t see change happen overnight, but we will see the change you’ve been wanting to see.” Officials swore in Watson — the newly-elected mayor/CEO and the first Black woman to lead the city — during an evening ceremony. Judge Candice Alcaraz, who in 2023 was the first [...]

The Kansas Supreme Court endured a crossfire of claims and counterclaims Monday about whether an association of Edwards County irrigators can try to thwart plans by Hays and Russell to make use of water rights acquired decades ago to pipe water drawn from a rural aquifer to the cities. Attorney Daniel Buller, representing the two cities, urged members of the Supreme Court to view the protracted legal battle through the lens of state law. He said transferring a large amount of water from an aquifer by pipeline to the cities rather than using the resource to grow crops was acceptable under [...]